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The Internet Businesses United States

America's Most-Hated ISP Is Now Hated By Fewer People (oregonlive.com) 97

Posted by EditorDavid from the unpopularity-contest dept.
"Comcast's customer service may actually be improving," writes an Oregon newspaper. An anonymous reader quotes their report: In the second year of Comcast's broad customer service overhaul, complaints to Oregon cable regulators are down 25%. They've also declined 40% since 2014. Complaints are falling nationally, too, according to the highly regarded American Customer Satisfaction Index. Its most recent report showed a surge in Comcast subscriber satisfaction... Two years ago, Comcast made Oregon the test bed for its customer service push, responding both to disparaging headlines and the prospect of growing competition from other telecom companies and from streaming video services.

The company is adding Apple-style retail stores around the metro area and introduced innovations to help consumers understand what they're paying for and when technicians will arrive for service calls. It's rolling out new tools nationally to help them improve their home Wi-Fi, and diagnosing problems before customers call to complain... For example, if several subscribers in the same neighborhood use the company's tool for testing internet speeds, that triggers an alert at Comcast to look for a problem in the local network. The company redesigned its bills to make it clearer what customers subscribe to, and what it costs, in hopes of reducing confusion and calls. And Comcast has a robust social media presence, fielding complaints on Twitter.
The article points out that Comcast's satisfaction scores are still below-average for cable TV providers, "and well below the median among internet service providers. And that's a low bar -- the telecom sector is among the most complained about under ACSI's rankings." Their figures show that the only ISPs in America with a lower score for customer satisfaction are Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and MediaCom.
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America's Most-Hated ISP Is Now Hated By Fewer People More

America's Most-Hated ISP Is Now Hated By Fewer People

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  • This is not surprising (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @01:38PM (#54288183)
    they're spending money on customer service right now so they can get approval to buy up their competitors. Normally Americans don't think once let alone twice on letting companies merge until there's no alternatives, but Comcast took it too far and pissed off too many people. Even they couldn't buy off enough politicians to pull that one off.

    Just wait until they're done with their merger and they'll go right back to making everybody hate them and Europe and Canada can go back to gazing on us Americans and wondering why the hell we let things be so awful. Just as God and Nature intended.
  • changed their name for the worse

  • Surprising. I've always been pleased with them. Few outages, and they regularly ratchet up their bandwidth and data caps.

    • saying this:

      regularly ratchet up their bandwidth and data caps

      Makes you sound a bit like a battered housewife. It literally costs them about $9/mo to offer you your service; and I'm guessing you're paying about $50-$70/mo (depending on your region and how much competition you have). At the very least for a 5-7x profit margin you'd think you wouldn't have data caps to worry about. I'm on Cox and I don't.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Nutria ( 679911 )

        It literally costs them about $9/mo to offer you your service

        For hardware and peering?

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AK Marc ( 707885 )
          Yes. For a company of that size, peering is on the order of $10 per Gbps per month or less (including amortized hardware cost for those links). With 10,000 customers aggregated per $10 per month, "peering" is probably about 1/10th of a penny per customer. Why yes, I have worked for a large ISP with millions of customers. And yes, I've seen the cost to "peer"

          I put "peer" in quotes, because "transit" is what you meant. Peering, by definition, is free (Aside from hardware), as it's a mutually beneficial

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Nutria ( 679911 )

            Why yes, I have worked for a large ISP with millions of customers.

            Then you should know that there are more expenses in a business than just transit costs.

            because "transit" is what you meant.

            Thank you.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AK Marc ( 707885 )
              "Hardware and peering" sounded like the costs associated with peering (not just the port, but the edge routers), and seemed to exclude core costs and other overhead.

              But, this being Slashdot, you meant the opposite of what you said, and I'm an idiot jackass for taking you at your word.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Nutria ( 679911 )

                If you did nothing but take me at my word, you wouldn't have explained the difference between peering and transit.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by AK Marc ( 707885 )
                  Your words were incorrect. I corrected them, so that I wouldn't be technically correct in my reply. If you understood, you'd have used the correct terms in the first place.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Our family regularly exceeds our monthly cap, and Comcast has yet to charge us for the overages. So we have that going for us, which is nice, but Comcast is still an ugly boil on Satan's teat. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

    • Yeah I was as shocked by this as you. I've had them for about 10 years, and I can count the number of downtime hours on one hand.

      Fast speeds, a very high data cap (which doesn't appear to be aggressively enforced), and awesome customer service.

      The really crazy part is that they rate Cox just below Charter.

  • An Insider's View (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, 2017 @02:00PM (#54288281)

    As a Comcast employee I can say that I've definitely noticed a complete change in culture since the entire company adopted the NetPromoter system (https://www.netpromoter.com/know/). In every meeting, there is an undeniable effort to ensure the "customer" has a seat at the table. No agenda here on my part... I don't question the validity of the concerns anyone of you may have. Just giving you a bit of an insider's viewpoint. I can honestly say that an internal, company-wide strategy to improve the customer experience feels very substantive this time around, in contrast to previous efforts I've witnessed. Take from that what you will. I don't speak on behalf of the company. But, on a personal level, I think we offer a pretty competitive product and hope that we continue to do better by our customers. They've been a pretty great company to work for.

    • First of all, never call your product a "competitive product". You know what this means? Essentially what you're saying is "the others are just as shitty, so why try harder?" Another thing is that the message is not what you say but what your audience hears. It's nice that you feel like your customer has a seat at your table, but this does not arrive at your customers. They do not feel that way. And if you care about how your customers think about you, this is what matters.

      One thing is certain: Goodwill goe

  • So are they getting better, the other are getting worse, or everyone is just busy hating United right now?

  • The important question: (Score:3)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @02:14PM (#54288329)

    Do the Comcast execs believe the result of this monetary investment is worth replicating?

  • A few ideas (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sjames ( 1099 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @02:18PM (#54288353) Homepage Journal

    First and foremost, when a customer says they're down, try to ping other modems in the same neighborhood. If those are down too, roll a line truck. Do not claim it must be a problem at their house.

    Re-emphasize in training, if any light other than network activity is flashing on the modem, it is not a problem with their computer, don't try to sell them on paid Windows support, especially when they say they don't have Windows.

    If the customer is using words you are unfamiliar with such as traceroute or ping, just elevate the call to someone who understands the problem.

    • If the customer is using words you are unfamiliar with such as traceroute or ping, just elevate the call to someone who understands the problem.

      If the customer is using a language you are unfamiliar with such as English, just elevate the call to someone who understands the language.

      • Years ago comcast introduced some speed boost thing. I forget what they called it. It was basically a docsis command they used to temporarily uncapped the modem. Every time it would kick in my modem would take a dive. I finally just purchased my own. They weren't getting any more of my rental fees and trying to convince them to send a new modem didn't work.

        Next they were having problems with a particular router. Traceroute proved it. They didn't listen and it took weeks to fix.

        Comcast isn't better because

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sjames ( 1099 )

          Route problems seem to totally befuddle them. I had a terrible time getting them to fix it when they were black holing the entire 6to4 address space for outbound packets.

    • If the customer is using words you are unfamiliar with such as traceroute or ping, just elevate the call to someone who understands the problem.

      Or you'll eventually end up with someone like me who says, "Listen, just create the ticket and pass it back to the tech people. If they need any more information then have someone who knows what they are talking about call me." This wasn't Comcast but a service up in Canada for dealing with credit card payments that federal governments had to use. The first part was a transfer of XML files between the department and the provider which wasn't working. After 15 minutes of the call support person asking for a

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      What if you don't know your neighbors? :P

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sjames ( 1099 )

        What does that have to do with it?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by antdude ( 79039 )

          How would you know their IP addresses?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by antdude ( 79039 )

            Also, their routers might block pings. :(

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by sjames ( 1099 )

              Comcast knows the MAC of every modem connected to their system and the associated account and service address. They HAVE to. So it's a simple matter of a database lookup. The customer doesn't get to control anything on the cable side of the modem so they can't block the ping (Which I believe is more akin to arping anyway).

              So they know your address and they know the MAC addresses of the other modems on the same cable segment. Where's the problem?

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by antdude ( 79039 )

                I meant from the users to see if theirs work or not. How do we know which addresses our neighbors are using?

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by sjames ( 1099 )

                  Why would I need to ping my neighbors to decide if my internet connection is working? I was saying when you call Comcast and report your connection is down, rather than instating on sending someone to your home between the months of June and July, THEY should try to other modems near you first to see if it's more likely a line problem.

  • Any study that does not have Windstream at the top of the list is suspect to me.

  • fewer complaints because..... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    FEWER CUSTOMERS.

    most the unhappies have left already and they aren't exactly bringing in new customers in droves.

    the market and coverage is saturated. the only way comcast brings in significant amount of new customers is if they go build out in new markets and actually ::shudder:: compete with another wireline provider and steal their customers by providing superior product and service at ::thehorror:: lower prices.

    plus, "cord cutting" happens with internet access, too, not just tv. people are doing without

  • People have just given up hope and have stopped calling in to complain figuring that it'll get fixed sometime. They just don't have the energy to deal with the unhelp line anymore and that's why call volumes are down.

  • Depending where you land @ Comcast - ornery seems to be the right term....

    I am suing in small claims court by them being totally obnoxious and their - well, probably legal staff - is cocky.
    Will see what the outcome is.

    Seems that corporations make rules right now (or since the beginning of time, just bigger and bigger now) to their advantage and the small guy/gal has to swallow and see how to deal with it.

    The automatic process is, if there is no insight on their side, they rack up your bill and then forward

  • May I guess? (Score:3)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @03:47PM (#54288673)

    Complaints are down by 25% in areas where a competitor opened shop and claims they took a market share of about 30ish percent from Comcast...

  • ...they just gave up complaining because it seemed pointless, even though they still hate it with the burning passion of a thousand suns?
  • Isn't this like saying the flaming pile of shit is no longer on fire? How about comparing themselves to someone who actually has good customer service? Like your local pizza place for example.
  • How do you compare service when you don't have any competition? So you are better than yourself? How do you gage that? Doesn't make sense to me.
  • I categorically refuse to believe that any ISP/cable company is hated more than Frontier Communications.

    • I have frontier. Comcast cut our line while installing for our neighbor. Took 3 utilities to graffiti a quarter of our block, now after a week of no internet we have a temporary drop, and have to go through the whole graffiti process to get the real drop. Then someone else has to come and remove the temp drop. Should be right at 10 utility visits just becuase our neighbors (who are moving, WTF?) got cable.

      Not sure who sucks the worst in the mess, sort of like arguing about which sewer reeks less.

  • Yes, we have two choices for Internet/TV/, Uverse & Comcrap. Neither are good. Comcrap raised raised our bill to $189.00 a month. That being said, they did offer extremely fast speeds, both up & down. They would not lower by bill back to an acceptable level no matter how much I tried. They didn't really think I would leave, literally saying "we would hate to lose you, but there is nothing we can do...". So I got Uverse installed. I called to disconnect Comcast & they of course offered

  • Would have been interesting to look at whether improved customer satisfaction was correlated with increased local competition. I strongly suspect it is, not just because Comcast works harder to try to retain customers, but largely because the unhappiest customers leave as soon as they have an alternative. Even if actual customer service doesn't get any better, the people who remain are more satisfied on average.

    Kind of like the famous demotivator [despair.com] says- "sometimes the best solution to workplace morale proble

  • I, for one, am fed up with the awful customer service at TIme Warner, but I have good news - I'm going to switch to a shiny new company called Spectrum and I'm sure everything will be better. Eat my shorts Time Warner!

  • That's what happens when you lose subscribers. Less people to hate you.
  • In light of recent events I'm putting up with using Tor just to give Comcast my middle finger. If I had a viable alternative to them I'd be gone in a heartbeat.
  • ANY proverbial "800-pound gorilla" corporation focuses solely on the bottom line.
    There is little concern for client satisfaction, especially when there are few choices available.
    Cox is absolutely VERY bad. Comcast is not far behind.

    And, another important consideration is that I have stopped complaining because I GIVE UP!
    NOT because they have made improvements!

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